Last weekend I made a bit of a Christmas showbag for a friend who is comically retarded in the hope that he'll be educated somewhat. I leant him Doug Tennapel's Creature Tech, Art Speilgelman's Maus (full volume) and Michel Gagne's Insanely Twisted Rabbits.

I thought that covered a decent spectrum that wouldn't freak him out too much.

So the question I ask is....What would you choose from your collection?

I'm with you with Chris Ware...I often tell people about the wonders of Jimmy Corrigan but then warn them that it's only for the most hardcore of the hardcore.....and those that are not easily made depressed by books.

Thus far I've used Creature Tech and Tommysaurus Rex, Flight, and Blankets, since so far those are the only graphic novels I own! But there's quite a sizable collection at the library that I work at, and I use a lot of those, too. As a testament to you Flight artists, Volume 1 has floored my friends who have never picked up a graphic novel in their lives; they LOVE it!

For those interested, Kramers Ergot is a beautiful anthology put out by cartoonist extrodinare Sammy Harkham at http://www.avodahbooks.com It may not be everyone's taste however, so that's why I'd be cautious. It's sorta in that whole "art comics" movement. A lot of collage and stuff drawn on lined paper and things like that. Kramers Ergot contains work from great cartoonists like Sammy Harkham, Kevin Huizenga, Anders Nilson, Souther Salazar, Chris Ware, Mark Bell, Jeffrey Brown...the list goes on! I would recomend Numbers 4 and 5, those are where they get really good.

I've already used Blankets, Flight, and James Kochalka's Sketchbook Diaries to get a couple of people hooked on comics. Blankets seems to have worked the best so far. It hooked my girlfriend, my roommate, and a couple other friends.

Actually, to be fully aprreciated, you'd need to know a lot about the superhero genre and comics in general before you read it. It was the first actual big-business comic I ever read and I loved it, however, I love it even more now that I get some of the subtle hints at real life.

Hellboy would be a good start. Most of the stories can be read independant of each other. Not much need for knowing about some of the myths adressed in the stories, as the tpb's usually have commentary by Mike Mignola about what myths the stories are based on.

Tom Strong is very good to start with as well if someone is aware of how those old pulp serials were written.

The Goon is very nice as well. It's not trying to be intellectual or smart, just very, very fun to read. It has mobsters, it has zombies, it has mobster zombies and it even has a talking chainsaw. It's set in some kind of depression-era-like city, but it's not actually set in the depression era because Goon and Frankie are seen using The First Wives Club as a tool of torture.

Preacher is good, though very, very un-politically correct. It's also very funny and semi-philosophical and all that. Even if you're faint of heart it's worth picking up because of the excellent writing and fairly unique setting.

I lost dis arm in a bear trap, thirty-five years ago wrestling dis fine ham from its grip!

In Univ of Texas at Austin there's a actual course you can take for Comic Book History and Appreciation. one of their "textbooks" is DC's KINGDOM COME, which is probably one of the greatest men in tights books with crossover appeal (in my opinion)....most people not familiar with comics over the past decade are usually wowed by Alex Ross' stuff and the grand scale of it all.

For the sci-fi fans: defnitely Transmetropolitan or the Invisibles. Or any limited series by Morrison or Ellis. There's also a maxi series of shorts called Mortal Coils...great for the Twilight Zone fan.

For the "summer reader": Something by kocholka, clowes, brubaker would be good. Also, alternative comics' Rubbernecker.

I would say Strangers In Paradise for the girls....Terry Moore seems to be able to write women better than women can write women. (According to some women).

I know alot of non comic readers semi-knowledgable of the batman world also dig Brubaker's Catwoman, pre-Gulacy.

I'm boarding a plane to New York in about 5 hours, and I am bringing some comics for me, and some for my girl (for this exact same reason). She's not a comic person per-se, but she likes them because I do. So she is going to be reading one of my all-time favorites, Elfquest. If I get done with Bone (full volume), she might be giving that a read also.
If the newbie is into icons, you also can't go wrong with The Dark Knight Returns.